Pardeshi has not yet taken over his new charge as the additional chief secretary in the urban development department. He has sent his leave application to the state government through an email.

Mumbai: A day after he was shunted out as the BrihanMumbai Municipal Commissioner, Praveen Pardeshi, who is the additional chief secretary rank IAS officer of 1985 batch, has applied for leave for 10 days.

Pardeshi has not yet taken over his new charge as the additional chief secretary in the urban development department. He has sent his leave application to the state government through an email.

An officer from the General Administration Department told FPJ, ’’It is true that Pardeshi has not yet taken over his new assignment. He has applied for 10 days leave and it will be processed by the state government on Monday as Saturday and Sunday are weekly offs.’’

He said Pardeshi has not given any cause for leave. However, his colleagues in Mantralaya cited that he may take rest for a while as he was involved in combating the virus in the city.

Despite repeated attempts, Pardeshi was not reachable. However, some of his senior colleagues said Pardeshi may use his contacts in the Central government to go on deputation there. "Pardeshi is not empanelled as secretary.

However, his proximity with former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnvais may benefit him to get some assignment at the Centre,’’ an officer from Mantralaya said.

Another officer said Pardeshi, who will retire in December 2021, may opt for voluntary retirement and may prefer an assignment in organisations such as United Nations, World Bank or Asian Development Bank. ‘’He had worked in the past in one of these organisations due to his expertise in disaster management. He may try again,’’ he recalled.

Pardeshi was transferred in the wake of his widening rift with the Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta who belongs to the 1984 IAS batch. The differences came to the fore mainly on the handling of COVID-19 pandemic in Mumbai.

Incidentally, the Union Health Ministry joint secretary Luv Agarwal-led team during its presentation on Thursday pointed out several flaws in BMC’s coronavirus crisis management strategy and exposed lack of its preparedness to treat 41,000 COVID-19 positive patients which are estimated to be there by May 27 in Mumbai.